


Snap Shots and Slap Shots

by c0cunt



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Hockey, M/M, hockey player Connie, hockey player Reiner, journalist Annie, photographer Bertholdt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-02
Updated: 2016-03-02
Packaged: 2018-05-24 10:16:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,712
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6150322
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/c0cunt/pseuds/c0cunt
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Bertholdt really has no clue what goes on in hockey, aside from there being a puck and ice.  So he isn't particularly happy when his boss teams him up with Annie to take photos for her interview with two of the Trost Titians' players, who have been getting a lot of attention after coming out as a couple.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Snap Shots and Slap Shots

**Author's Note:**

> So, after [our good buddy Kai](http://mihaelkai.tumblr.com/) mentioned to me that ConReiBert was a thing...Well, I had to write this. I think this was the prompt that he suggested as well, but I can't remember that well since it was a few days ago and I didn't get a screenie of the chat before I went to work.

  Bertholdt hated when his boss ordered him to take photographs for Annie’s interviews.  Sure, he was their paper’s best photographer, but surely someone with more interest could photograph some hockey team?  He didn’t know anything about hockey, aside from that there was a puck and ice skates, and that there were some popular movies about hockey...But that was literally it.  He knew the names of the two that Annie was gunning for an interview with (Connie Springer and Reiner Braun), once they had allowed it.  No one had gotten an interview with either of them since they had come out as a couple, even with the whispers of their contracts being ‘reviewed’.  Which had him and Annie both convinced that it meant the team manager and owner were trying to see if they could be terminated over it.  It definitely smelled like potential discrimination, and Annie wanted to sink her claws into that before any other reporters were able to.  Somehow, the interview had been set up, even though both men claimed to just want their privacy (Annie had smirked in an unsettling way when she announced the upcoming interview to Bertholdt, and patted his arm as if he had somehow helped).

  They were at the Trost Titans’ stadium, a good six hours before their game against the Sina Senators were to play against them.  Most of the home team was already at the stadium, chatting together in their locker room when Annie slammed the doors open in front of her and stalked in, Bertholdt quietly closing the door behind them and skittering up behind her, eyes firmly on the ground.  Some of the men that were in the middle of changing dove to cover themselves, and Bertholdt could feel his face burning as he clutched his camera tightly to his chest, wishing that he had been able to convince Annie to just find the team manager and ask if the players they were interviewing were inside.  Annie stopped in front of a man with a shaved head, who had his head leaning on the wide shoulder of the blonde man sitting next to him with his eyes closed.  The blonde man gave Annie a cursory glance, before letting his eyes fall onto Bertholdt and stare intensely (which just made Bertholdt sweat even more, damn it).  Annie cleared her throat loudly, gaining the blonde’s attention as well as the other man’s attention, his eyes blinking open slowly as he focused on her.

  “Mr. Springer, Mr. Braun, it’s a pleasure to meet you both.  I’m Annie Leonhardt, from Trost Daily.  I believe you both agreed to meeting with me and my photographer today.”  Annie stated (even though the last part should have sounded like a question, at least Bertholdt thought), offering her hand to them.  The blonde took her hand quickly, as his teammate (and apparently boyfriend) sat up slowly and stretched, yawning widely.  When the blonde man turned to Bertholdt, and offered his hand with a kind smile, Bertholdt stared at it blankly for half a second, and did not reach for it, instead  continuing to protectively cradle his camera to his chest.  He dropped his hand after Bertholdt made no move to take it, shrugging slightly as he stood up.  Bertholdt was almost surprised that he was almost as tall as himself, and about doubly wide, but even more surprised when his teammate and boyfriend stood as well and was almost Annie’s height.  The height difference seemed kind of ridiculous to Bertholdt, but who was he to judge when he was paired up so often to take photos with Annie’s interviews that the duo were commonly referred to around the office as “the tall and the small”, at least in whispers and never to Annie’s face.  They probably all liked their facial features where they were.

  “Let’s go sit by the rink, I think Jaeger was checking out your ass, Ms. Leonhardt.”  Short one said, and what appeared to be a jockstrap was flung at his face over Annie’s head as the room burst into laughter.  Jaeger, or at least who Bertholdt assumed was Jaeger as he had thrown the garment, glared at them as he turned away, hiding a faint blush on his dark cheeks.  Annie’s lips had twitched up slightly, in a way Bertholdt knew meant she was trying very hard not to start laughing, before she shrugged and said “If that makes you feel better” as she followed the large blonde out, as he had started ahead of them.  Bertholdt relaxed a little bit at the possibility of not being surrounded by so many people, and didn’t mind trailing behind Annie and blondie a little bit more than he usually would.  At least, not until a hand patted his upper arm, making him nearly jump out of his skin.

  Holding his hands up, short one laughed lightly and said “I guess you’re the photographer, but I know I didn’t catch your name.  Unless your parents were just very cruel people.”  Bertholdt laughed with him, a nervous laugh more than anything else, as he shook his head and mumbled “Name’s Bertholdt,” not even offering his last name.  Eyes narrowing slightly, the man at his side pulled his phone out of somewhere (He didn’t seem to be wearing anything with pockets?  Bertholdt was immediately suspicious about where his phone had been stored, and made a mental note to never hold this man’s phone if he was asked to do so.) and scrolled through something before asking “Bertholdt Hoover?” in a suspicious voice that made Bertholdt sweat even more anxiously than he had before, though he nodded minutely.  The other two had already gone through the pair of doors that Bertholdt and his companion just reached, and Bertholdt held the door open for him (an almost shy smile and muttered “thanks” thrown his way) and closed it just as quickly behind them.  

  “Hey Reiner!”  Short one shouted suddenly, and it echoed down the corridor that the four of them were in now, “Guess who this guy is!  That photographer you used to follow like, obsessively.  Bertholdt Hoover!”  Now identified as Reiner, the blonde man looked back at the two of them, an eyebrow raised in surprise.  “Nah Con, can’t be, his website said he retired from photography professionally two years ago,” Reiner dismissed, turning back to Annie as Bertholdt’s face almost immediately became so warm it could probably fry an egg.  Given, it would be a terribly sweaty and probably gross egg.  Even his friend Sasha wouldn’t eat that sort of egg.  Bertholdt couldn’t help a small giggle at the mental image of Sasha turning down any sort of food, and Connie looked up at him with a frown.  “I-I, sorry, I haven’t updated my website in two years, probably should’ve taken it down a while ago...” Bertholdt mumbled, readjusting his grip on his camera so he could fish out a business card from his pocket, that merely had his name and phone number on it, and hand it to Connie.

  “That’s definitely Bertholdt Hoover, and you wouldn’t believe the kinds of hoops our boss had to go through to get him to freelance for us.”  Annie said flatly, as she settled down into one of the stadium’s seats.  “Bertholdt, take a picture of the rink,” She ordered, even though he was already lining up a shot with Reiner and Connie both leaning up against the barrier between the stadium and the rink.  Reiner looked incredulous as Connie whispered in his ear, a moment that Bertholdt captured silently along with several others, before Annie called the pair of them over and set out her tape recorder.  It always amused Bertholdt, how Annie relied on old fashioned tape recorders that used actual tapes, but then again he also favored older instant print cameras, so he really had no place to tease her about that.

  Even though he had told himself he wouldn’t let himself zone out, Bertholdt zoned out almost as soon as the first question Annie had prepared was out of her mouth.  He heard when Connie or Reiner were speaking, gruff rumbling answers compared to Annie’s higher pitched questions, which always pitched even higher by the end of her question, but he couldn’t get himself to focus on what they were saying.  Instead, he focused on getting relatively nice photos; Reiner slinging his arm around Connie’s shoulders as he gestured to the ice, Connie jumping up and blocking out one of the strategies they had used against the Sina Senators last game, the three of them huddled closely over Annie’s recorder as she asked them if it was true that their contracts were under review because of their announcement (they only answered once Annie had assured them that their answer wouldn’t be published, and both of them feared that was the case for their contracts).  He vaguely heard Annie ask how Connie felt being the shortest player in the hockey league, and couldn’t help a terribly loud guffaw at his flat answer of “fuckin’ short”, that brought Connie’s and Reiner’s attention to him.  Reiner and Connie exchanged a quick look and a grin before wiggling their eyebrows in the exact same pattern, which had even Annie muffling her giggles into her sweatshirt’s sleeve.

  “I thiiiiiink,” Annie started, drawing out the words as she quickly looked over her small list of questions, “That we are done here for today, unless either of you want me to know something else for when I write about this later?”  Reiner shook his head immediately, but Connie seemed to put more thought into it, though he eventually shook his head as well.  Annie stood, turning off the recorder and offering them her hand again.  Bertholdt was ready this time when Reiner offered him his hand, shaking it in a way that made it abundantly obvious that he wasn’t used to shaking hands with anyone.  Reiner frowned at that slightly, releasing Bertholdt’s limp hand, only for it to be captured into Connie’s grip and for Connie to squawk indignantly at Bertholdt’s “terrible shaking skills”.  Connie then insisted on teaching Bertholdt to shake hands properly, which lasted all of two minutes before Connie gave up, after wiping his palm of sweat at least ten times.

  “Hey, can we get a photo with our lovely interviewer?”  Reiner asked, Annie’s deadpan look immediately inclining Bertholdt to think the answer was a no, before she surprised them all by sighing and nodding slightly.  Bertholdt fumbled with his camera for a few seconds, weakly asking them to “smile, please” (which only made Annie frown at him before the pleading look on his face broke her down).  Several photos were taken, and once Bertholdt was satisfied, he nodded as he swiftly put the cap over the lens, figuring he was all done here.

  “Can we get a photo with our lovely photographer as well?”  Connie asked, after sharing a look quickly with Reiner, who then looked hopefully at Bertholdt.  He blinked slowly, looking down at the camera in his hands as he shifted nervously, his head only snapping up when Annie answered “of course” and her small hand wrapped around the camera.  Frowning, Annie tugged it gently out of his grip and then shoved him in the direction of the two men, immediately whipping the camera lens off with a sly grin.  Bertholdt yelped as his legs tangled, pinwheeling his arms in an attempt to keep himself from falling, only to be caught by two sets of hands before he face planted on the cement.  Connie’s eyes sparkled with amusement as he and his boyfriend pulled Bertholdt into a sitting position at the edge of the stairs, who was now sitting between the couple.

  “It looks like, you’ve _fallen_ for us,” Connie snickered, Reiner immediately joining in with laughter as Bertholdt buried his bright red face into his palms, a grumbled “that was so lame” making the duo laugh even harder.  Vaguely he heard his camera snapping as an arm on either side of him draped across his shoulders, and his breath froze when he felt two pairs of lips brush against his cheeks.  If it was possible, Bertholdt probably would’ve melted into a sweaty pile of goop, wanting nothing more than to just disappear through the concrete.  It means nothing, his mind immediately supplied, they’re dating, and a cheek kiss isn’t anything special.  All those things were probably true, but Bertholdt couldn’t help the way his heart sped up, before he disentangled himself from the pair hurriedly, mumbling nonsense about not wanting to get in their way as they prepared for their game, before snatching his camera from Annie’s hands and (as calmly as he could) heading towards the exit.  He pretended not to hear Reiner’s shout of “We’ll call you after the game, Bertl!” (who was he kidding, he definitely heard it, and almost stumbled down another step and couldn’t deny blushing even more) that followed him out of the stadium.

 

* * *

 

   Annie tutted lightly when she finally caught up to Bertholdt, who was fidgeting next to her truck with the camera in his hands.  She didn’t say anything as she unlocked it and climbed in, not even bothering to wait for him to scramble inside and buckle up before they roared out of the parking lot.  “You didn’t hear a single word we talked about, did you?”  Annie eventually asked as they waited for a red light, rolling down the window a tiny bit for a crack of fresh air.  Bertholdt shrugged and made a noncommittal noise, which obviously translated into ‘I checked out as soon as you started recording, sorry’.  The light turned green, Annie driving silently until the next light, and she rolled her eyes at him as she explained “Reiner and Connie aren’t just a gay couple, they’re also...Polyamorous, I think the word is?”  She scrunched up her eyebrows slightly, obviously trying to remember the word, before shrugging and continuing “Either way, they’re open to another person joining them, and it looked to me like they were trying to flirt with you.  And you’re a big gay mess, so I figured I’d be helpful or something.”

  She spoke flippantly, as if she didn’t give half a shit about Bertholdt’s life outside of work, but he knew otherwise.  After she had set him on a date with her half brother Marlowe (which had ended terribly), Annie had taken to trying to figure out exactly who Bertholdt’s type was.  “So you think not one, but two hockey players are good dating choices?”  Bertholdt scoffed, crossing his arms with a huff.  Annie sent him a deadly glare that made him wilt in the split second it was sent his way, before she returned to paying attention to the road.  “If you were listening to literally _anything_ I was talking to them about, you’d know they’re more than just hockey players.”  Annie said flatly, in a voice that deemed the conversation over with, as Bertholdt frowned out the window.  

  The rest of their ride was silent, Bertholdt mentally wondering how everything in his life so far had led to one of his few friends trying to set him up with a couple.  It was definitely one of the stranger things that had happened so far; but the more Bertholdt thought about Connie and Reiner, the more he felt that he was being a bit harsh about his judgement on them.  He’d known them for all of, what, two hours, and was already writing them off as ‘just’ hockey players?  Terrible.  As Annie pulled up in front of his apartment building, Bertholdt let out a long sigh as he finally mumbled “I won’t write them off, I guess.  Least I could do is give them a chance.”  Annie nodded at that, but didn’t add anything else, Bertholdt figured they were done for the day.  With a quick one-armed hug, he headed inside, waving once more at Annie (who honked obnoxiously before tearing off down the road) when he reached the building’s door.  Bertholdt smiled faintly as he trotted up the building’s staircase (why use the elevator when he had no need to?), figuring he had a lot of researching to do before Reiner and Connie would call him that night.

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Daybreak](https://archiveofourown.org/works/6178606) by [dyememono](https://archiveofourown.org/users/dyememono/pseuds/dyememono)




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